Open thread 11/17/22
A tiny glimpse of one of my favorite ballets of all time: The female soloist is a dancer I’ve not seen before. But as soon as she began to move, I recognized that she’s a dancer of a type I … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Arts
Jorge Luis Borges and politics
I’ve always liked the work of Jorge Luis Borges. His writing isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it is to mine. I was reminded of Borges the other evening when I did a search for “science fiction stories about immortals” and … Continue reading →
At the storage unit: the Smith-Corona
When I moved to smaller digs over a decade ago, I stored a couple of boxes of my stuff and some pieces of furniture in my ex-husband’s storage unit. Actually, at the time he had two storage units, both of … Continue reading →
Is it possible that Bob Dylan has never heard of Tom Lehrer?
I once read that people either love Bob Dylan or hate him (kind of like pecan pie, only different). If that really is a Bob Dylan rule, then I’m an exception to it because I kind of like him, or … Continue reading →
Open thread 10/31/22
Phil Ochs was a singer/songwriter, and a leftist of the old sort. Later in his career, he was plagued by mental illness and had a tragic end. But what a beautiful and distinctive voice he had, instantly recognizable. Some of … Continue reading →
Robbins’ “Other Dances”: four different renditions
Compare and contrast. I’ve cued up a very short (less than 2-minute) excerpt from the beginning of each video of the ballet for the purpose of easy comparison, but you can go to YouTube to watch the longer videos if … Continue reading →
The Gramscian march through arts institutions – and arts funding
Some years ago – perhaps ten? – I pretty much stopped going to art museums. Most of the exhibits were no longer of art I wanted to see, and even the ones that seemed promising turned out to be an … Continue reading →
Compare and contrast: three women dance ballet to classical music
The other day the following little ballet to music by Beethoven, set on three women, appeared in my YouTube recommendations. And so I watched it. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t much like it: too static, very “on the … Continue reading →
Columbus and poetry, song and story and Joaquin Miller
I grew up in an era in which we had to memorize scads of poetry, some of it of the patriotic verse variety. I’ve written about the experience here. An excerpt: I think it may be a lost pedagogical device, … Continue reading →
When you were a tadpole: in praise of verse
When I was a child of around ten, one semi-bored day I came across the light-verse poem “Evolution” in a book on a shelf in my house. Even at the age of ten it amused me and also moved me, … Continue reading →
RIP Loretta Lynn
Country singer Loretta Lynn has died at 90: Just about all the obituaries have the words “coal miner’s daughter” in the headline or prominent in the body of the text, and that’s my impulse, too. Not only was it the … Continue reading →
Open thread 10/3/22
I find this dance style strange yet rather hypnotic. It’s similar to certain other ethnic dance traditions in that it features a fairly rigid upper body with movement centered in the legs and feet. But in this case, the women … Continue reading →